Life support decision divides Camacho family

Agence France-Presse

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The mother of Hector "Macho" Camacho, the Puerto Rican ring great declared brain dead after being shot, said Friday he will be taken off life support, a move the ex-champion's son opposes.

Camacho's mother, Maria Matias, said in a press conference that she has accepted the doctors' verdict rendered Thursday that the three-time world champion was clinically brain-dead and could not recover.

She said the family would wait until Saturday, so that all of Camacho's children will have a chance to say goodbye.

But Camacho's eldest son, Hector Camacho Jr., insisted Friday night that "the fight is not over until the final round, he will stay connected to the machines that are keeping him alive artificially until the end".

"Doctors make mistakes. God does not make mistakes," Camacho Jr. said. "He is a fighter and the fight will continue until the end."

Dr Ernesto Torres, director of the Centro Medico hospital in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, said Thursday morning that Camacho had showed no sign of brain activity.

Camacho, 50, was shot on Tuesday while in a car in San Juan outside a liquor store. The boxer's driver, Alberto Mojica Moreno, 49, was killed in the shooting.